Generally, semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as computers, cellular phones, personal computing devices, and many other applications. Home, industrial, and automotive devices that in the past comprised only mechanical components now have electronic parts that require semiconductor devices, for example.
Semiconductor devices are manufactured by depositing many different types of material layers over a semiconductor workpiece or wafer, and patterning the various material layers using lithography. The material layers typically comprise thin films of conductive, semiconductive, and insulating materials that are patterned and etched to form integrated circuits (IC's). There may be a plurality of transistors, memory devices, switches, conductive lines, diodes, capacitors, logic circuits, and other electronic components formed on a single die or chip.
Insulating materials comprise dielectric materials that are used in many types of semiconductor devices. Silicon dioxide (SiO2) is a common dielectric material used in semiconductor device manufacturing, for example, which has a dielectric constant or k value of about 3.9. Some semiconductor applications require the use of a high k dielectric material having a higher k value than the k value of silicon dioxide, for example. Some transistors require a high k dielectric material as a gate dielectric material, and some capacitors require a high k dielectric material as an insulating material between two conductive plates, as examples, to reduce leakage current and reduce capacitance.
A dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is a memory device that can be used to store information. A DRAM cell in a memory array typically includes two elements, namely a storage capacitor and an access transistor. Data can be stored into and read out of the storage capacitor by passing a charge through the access transistor and into the capacitor. The capacitance, or amount of charge held by the capacitor per applied voltage, is measured in farads and depends upon the area of the plates, the distance between them, and the dielectric value of the insulator, as examples.
High k dielectric materials are typically used as an insulating material in the storage capacitor of DRAM cells. Examples of some high dielectric constant materials that have been proposed as capacitor dielectric materials are hafnium oxide and hafnium silicate. However, these materials are limited to a maximum dielectric constant of around 30, for example.
What are needed in the art are improved high dielectric constant (k) dielectric materials and methods of formation thereof in semiconductor devices.